90% of Food Workers Basically Starving

A culinary student rushes through the kitchen with greens during a class for aspiring professional chefs in this file photo. (Getty Images)

(Newser)
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Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be line cooks. The food industry is a pretty terrible one to work in, a new study from the Food Chain Workers Alliance argues, with nearly nine out of every 10 workers earning less than a "livable wage." The report looked at people across the food industry, surveying employees at such disparate places as farms, slaughterhouses, grocery stores, and restaurants. Together, such workers comprise a fifth of America's private sector workforce, the LA Times reports.

The common denominator for all of those jobs: They kinda suck. Among the report's findings:

The median wage is $9.65 an hour.

Some 13.8% depend on food stamps.

The vast majority—83%—don't get health insurance through their employers, and 79% either don't get sick days or don't know if they do.

Most (81%) have never received a promotion, and that's especially true of minorities and immigrants, who typically languish in low-level jobs.

"The report looked at people across the food industry, surveying employees at such disparate places as farms, slaughterhouses, grocery stores, and restaurants. " The missing information: how many are legal? Companies make a lot of money on cheap labor.

Riffran

Jun 6, 2012 8:14 PM CDT

I bused tables as a kid...didn't like it. Joined the Navy. after four years, didn't like it, I got out and went to school. Been a nurse every since...I do NOT work in a food service industry

theolddog

Jun 6, 2012 5:51 PM CDT

give me a break, even the homeless, in this country are overweight, no one in the USA is starving to death.